Asir straightened his shoulders and addressed the machine.
"Teach us how to kindle the Blaze of the Great Wind."
"Teaching is not within the designed functions of Big Joe. I am charged to say: the renewal reaction should not be begun before the Marsyear 6,000, as the builders reckoned time."
Asir frowned. The years were no longer numbered, but only named in honor of the Chief Commoners who ruled the villages. "How long until the year 6,000?" he asked.
Big Joe clucked like an adding machine. "Twelve Marsyears, technologist."
Asir stared at the complicated machinery. Could they learn to operate it in twelve years? It seemed impossible.
"How can we begin to learn?" he asked the robot.
"This is an instruction room, where you may examine records. The control mechanisms are installed in the deepest vault."
Asir frowned and walked to the far end of the hall where another door opened into—another anteroom, with another Big Joe! As he approached the second robot spoke:
"If the intruder has not acquired the proper knowledge, Big Oswald will kill."